An attempt to end decades of conflict in the southern Philippines collapsed in August 2008, and this led to intensified fighting between government forces and Muslim insurgents who sought to strengthen an autonomous Islamic state. In July the government of Philippines Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo reached an ancestral domain agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The agreement provided for an expanded homeland with greater autonomy for some four million Muslims in 700 towns and villages on the southern island of Mindanao. On August 4, however, officials from the Roman Catholic areas of Mindanao obtained a Supreme Court order temporarily blocking the formal signing of the agreement. The officials feared that the agreement would mean Muslim encroachment into their territory, and they argued that it would split the country. MILF guerrillas angrily reacted to the order by launching attacks on government forces and villages in Mindanao.

Christian and Muslim children in Quezon City join adults in October 2008 to call for an end to …

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On August 21 the government announced that it had canceled the ancestral domain agreement. Intensified fighting in Mindanao caused nearly 100 deaths, and some 500,000 people fled their homes. A government offensive captured three MILF commanders blamed for the upsurge in fighting. On October 14 the Supreme Court ruled 8 to 7 that the agreement was unconstitutional. The MILF said that it would take its case to the UN as well as to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Meanwhile, both the MILF and the government indicated that they would resume observing a cease-fire they had signed in 2003.

The head of Arroyo’s security staff announced that a plot to assassinate the president and other officials and to bomb foreign embassies was uncovered in early February. The plot was blamed on the Islamic militant group Abu Sayyaf, which had been accused of having orchestrated many past bombings, kidnappings, and beheadings. The plot was disclosed shortly before protests against Arroyo were to be held in Manila and 14 other cities. Demonstration organizers charged that the government’s report on the plot was simply intended to discourage and distract from the protests. Marking the anniversary of a popular uprising that ousted former president Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1986, the demonstrators demanded the ouster of Arroyo, who for several years had faced accusations of having been involved in corruption and of having improperly influenced vote counting in her presidential election victory in 2004.

After having achieved a 7.3% expansion in 2007—its fastest rate of growth in three decades—the Philippine economy suffered in 2008 from the worldwide financial crisis. Inflation soared by midyear to 11.4%, the highest rate in nine years, with a particularly worrisome surge in food prices. With the country’s population growing at more than 2% annually, the government reported in March that the proportion of people living in poverty had risen from 30% in 2003 to 32.9% in 2006. Arroyo had promised to reduce poverty by 17–20% by 2010.

The interisland ferry Princess of the Stars capsized in a typhoon on June 1. (SeeDisasters.) An inquiry blamed the boat’s captain for having failed to judge the storm danger correctly. Of more than 800 people aboard, only 60 survived. Because the vessel had been carrying five highly toxic pesticides as cargo, the government was forced to halt efforts to recover victims’ bodies for fear that pesticides in the water could harm divers involved in the recovery effort.

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Government negotiators in the Philippines reached an agreement in July with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels on the southern island of Mindanao to end their four-decade-old struggle for a self-governing state. The deal fell apart the next month, however, after Christian politicians objected. Renewed fighting left more than 300 people dead, including dozens of soldiers.

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